Episode 10 is the season 1 finale, focusing on the characters trying to enjoy time with their friends. The climax is intended as a means to tie numerous, disparate elements together to bring the first season to a close.

Development Notes

The team, particularly Yoshi, were planning for the episode since the completion of Episode 9. Ideas were thrown around after its release, and scriptwriting on SFA10 fully began on May 8. The team consciously took a back-to-roots approach to the writing after the previous two "highly random and overly self-aware" episodes; they intended for it to have a natural, character-driven flow more akin to the middle episodes of the season. The script was finalized on May 13 after many days of steady revisions.

The episode was fully voiced on May 27. Thorn began editing on the 17th, and he completed it on May 27 despite setbacks with voice actors.

Post-Credits

Part 1: Mop cleans up the set, only to have Keroro put him back in the broom closet.

Part 2: HQ leaves their first message to Keroro since Episode 1, after which the season officially ends.

Joke References and Explanations

SPOILER WARNINGThe following has numerous spoilers for the episode. It is recommended that you watch the episode before reading any further.

Episode Running Gags, Series Running Gags, and Callbacks

Thorn hid his five favorite albums from his number-one favorite band, They Might Be Giants, to celebrate the season finale. They are placed in order from first-favorite to fifth:

Apollo 18 is hidden in the block statue when Koyuki hides behind Natsumi.

Flood is hidden in the poster on the wall when Giroro confronts Keroro about his new job.

Mink Car is placed on a nearby house behind Giroro before everyone goes on the picnic.

The Narrator alludes to the climax of the episode in his introduction: "I'm off for some dollar store cheese".

Kululu can also occasionally be heard chuckling menacingly in the background throughout the episode. He also makes an uncanny evil cackle in the picnic scene when it starts raining.

Serious Keroro tells the "What do you call cheese that isn't yours?" joke. His "serious" answer is "Stolen!".

Keroro makes a comment about Koyuki and Natsumi's date being similar to his and Tamama's first date. Tamama saying it's "not even close" alludes to the explicit nature of their relationship.

Giroro's inner monologue references his apparent transvestism, other females' uncanny attraction to Natsumi, and Keroro's remark in Episode 4 about him being a lesbian. He also calls himself a lesbian in the restaurant.

He also remarks "and then vaginas start popping up out of nowhere", which in a way happens to Tamama.

When Keroro crossdresses in the restaurant, he remarks "Who's the boob now, Giroro?", possibly referencing Giroro's transvestism. It may also simply refer to a time Giroro insulted Keroro by calling him a "boob".

Keroro is even more noticeably a crossdresser than Giroro: he wears female body suits twice in the span of twenty-four hours.

Natsumi is once again vocal about the creepiness of her friends' obsession with her. She even attempts to temper Koyuki's love to just friendship, due to her considering Koyuki to be "the only real friend I have".

Giroro apparently would never say "Safeway Club Card", a joke about his disconnect with modern society and culture.

Tamama attempts to reveal his/her actual gender throughout the episode, but doesn't get the chance until the very end. He/she also aludes to it occasionally as "untold/dark secrets".

Dororo rushes up the trapdoor to throw in his own "What?!" when Keroro reveals he has a job, calling back to him randomly running into a scene to be a part of it in Episode 8.

Keroro is so useless that he loses the job in the same day he gets it.

Giroro can be heard droning "nurrrrr" with his mouth agape after telling everyone that Keroro won't be coming on the picnic.

Dororo attempts to use his camp guide status as a means to get physical contact with others: "We're all gonna need to hold hands... Come on..."

Keroro once again makes the loud "AGH!" laugh from Episode 8.

Solid Snake makes another appearance, referencing the odd "Love can bloom on the battlefield" scene from Metal Gear Solid. Dororo, one of the few people aware of Snake's presence, takes this as a shot at his loneliness.

HQ's message at the very end of the video echoes similar post-credit sequences in Metal Gear Solid games.

Future Kululu's pencil mustache was inspired by the similar mustache of Sparks'Ron Mael.

Dororo is referred to as "Doromania".

Tamama is revealed to actually be a girl. The team were planning this since Episode 3, though hints weren't dropped until before Episode 7:

In "The Valentine's Parody" song, Keroro's singing foreshadows the reveal almost a week before Episode 7 aired: "No one thinks you're male/they think you're my wife/I'm not against that idea/But there's something wrong/You don't have a vagina".

Tamama can be heard groaning "ow" in Episode 8 while Giroro reads the vagina pain joke.

She comments in Episode 9 "I'm even cute with air boobs".

Her comment, "Not as fun to screw 'em when they can't feel anything" may count as a hint.

Tamama finds a hole during the Episode 9 Post-Credits; she actually just discovered her vagina.

The credits give the main cast (plus Viper) one last closing thought before ending the season, sometimes to follow-up a running gag involving them:

Giroro follows up his colouring phobia revealed in Episode 8, also bringing back the jumping-out-the-window/Attempt Screen gag from Episode 3 for one last time.

Dororo notices that Keroro mentioned something about him having more than one dad, to which Viper can be heard erratically giving him child support money, (Viper's actions being based on BigTUnit1's hyperactive interpretations of the character while on the team's podcast).

Kululu (while supposedly inside the box where he was hidden), attempts to do his signature "HEGH" laugh, but only having a dustbunny for a witness sours the moment.

Natsumi gives one last positive aspect of Giroro.

Fuyuki remarks about Natsumi's partner options being the Lesbos, the first time they are referred to in-series as "Lesbos".

Aki describes the entire scene with Kululu as being as bad a trip as her honeymoon.

Mois laments that her cuteness has not won Keroro over yet.

Koyuki also laments that her cuteness did not win over Natsumi.

Episode Climax

Future Kululu reveals certain things he was responsible for in the first season:

He supposedly altered something in the early episodes of the series, as hinted by images from the first two episodes. The remakes of the first two episodes leave these images and audio clips as the last remaining references to the original continuity of the series.

He actually entered Tamama's daydream in Episode 9 to torment him after he'd imprisoned all of his friends. This also explains his sudden disappearance after the supposed out-of-character moment.

He arrived in Episode 5, the same episode that introduced Jpace92 as his current voice actor, the change in voice explained by Kululu as him getting over a chest cold. This could also explain why Kululu was silent for all of Episode 4, by which point the chest cold may have been at its worst.

A sound clip plays of Kululu laughing in the Post-Credits of Episode 5, hinting to the point at which Kululu arrived in the timeline.

The remake of Episode 3 retcons the voice change. It can instead be taken to reference that Jpace was quieter in Episode 5 than his later appearances, as well as the fact that Kululu was silent in Episode 4.

He is the reason 4 and 9 appear in so many places, particularly the "map" Grandpa Viper gives to Lil' Keroro in Episode 7: 4 is the Japanese number of death (specifically when pronounced as "shi"), and 9 can be pronounced in Japanese as "ku", which is Kululu's signature laugh in the original Sgt. Frog/Keroro Gunsou series (he describes it as "that laugh I never do anymore/that 'ku' nonsense"). It is all a hint that he intends to kill Keroro.

Though it is never explicitly stated, he likely planned everyone having a picnic on the day it would rain, as evidenced by his evil cackle when the rain starts.

Momoka also mentions that the cherry blossom tree appeared out of nowhere in her garden, likely being Kululu's means to bring them to that location, though Paul thinks it was his fault.

The three impossible events that convince Future Kululu to leave are the Lesbos getting together (which they apparently do in the nearby fruit aisle), Dororo fixing his emotional issues (which happens instantaneously as he realizes it all stems from his father Viper), and Tamama revealing that he is actually straight.

These don't necessarily happen as expected though: Dororo later realizes in the credits that he has multiple dads and likely falls back into depression, and Tamama is only straight because he is actually a girl. It is likely that the Lesbo situation is misinterpreted as well.

Dororo's massive seizure calls back to his erratic eye movements in Episode 6 and his odd head seizure in Episode 7, explaining that they were adverse affects of his stress and mental issues.

Also of note, because both Future Kululu and the present-day characters altered the timeline, Future Kululu is technically an Alternate Reality Kululu. The things he mentions in the episode that were based on the retconned episodes can instead be explained by events in the remakes.

For a brief moment, the psychedelic dollar store background changes to the music video for R.E.M.'s "Shiny Happy People"; though the close-up of Kululu obscures most of it, the lyrics "take it into town" can still be heard.

It is a signal to the audience to begin taking the scene less seriously, as it is just before the three impossible events take place.

Other Jokes and References

Keroro claiming that it is his sworn duty to creep on Giroro is a friendly jab at codeblackhayate, a self-professed creeper of her friends.

Koyuki acts unnecessarily cute throughout her scenes, both because the writers find her acting like this often in the original series, and because it was apparently an attempt on her part to woo Natsumi.

Koyuki also seems to have hatred for various inanimate objects, such as a wall and a table.

Koyuki is defensive about a man named "Luigi", inferring that she said/did something to him related to the Super Mario series.

Keroro makes a crack about Wal-Mart's payment of its employees.

Keroro's commercial for coupons includes him saying that the coupon saved him "exactly as much money as it cost to buy the coupon", effectively making them useless.

Kululu's enjoyment of curry is explored for the first time. It was never mentioned in the series until now, though he was seen inexplicably holding a plate of curry in Episode 4.

Paul is played as being the memetic badass that celebrities such as Chuck Norris often become, though he is both aware of it, and he is never seen doing anything amazing. He does unintentionally summon Kululu, though.

Fuyuki's line "There's only so much pink I can take in a day" and Natsumi's sarcastic response "Love you too, Fuyuki" is a subtle jab at Sgt. Frog: The Other Abridged Series, wherein Fuyuki is played as having an incestuous crush on Natsumi.

Keroro, Dororo and Giroro groaning "FUTURE" is a reference to an episode of Spongebob Squarepants.

Future Kululu hid his present-day self in a box labeled "hamdingers", a reference to Mystery Science Theater 3000, wherein the Satellite of Love's escape pod was hidden in such a box so that no one would think to look there.

Reception

The episode passed 100 "likes" on May 31, the fastest any video reached 100 "likes" (less than four days after the video went up). The video also had 73 "favorites" and 0 "dislikes". Fans and viewers alike praised the episode, and the climax earned many exasperated comments.

As of June 25, 2011, it has 117 "likes", 0 "dislikes" and 82 "likes".

Additional Trivia

This is Momoka's first speaking appearance since her debut in Episode 2. The team intended to include the character more often in Season 2, but she was eventually killed off in SFA13.

Her new VA, Narusasu, was originally the VA for Momoka in TheSmashBro's Sgt. Frog: The Other Abridged Series, and Thorn was so impressed that he asked her to voice for SFA after LillyLivers' allergies prevented her from voicing the character again.

It is also the introduction of Paul the Butler, whose intended voice actor Superchang847 was signed on to voice the character since before Episode 1R. He was unable to voice in the series due to lacking a good quality mic. Superchang was the only voice actor from the very first round of auditions from January 2010 to remain on the castlist, meaning that, as of this episode, none of the first wave of auditioners are in the series.

Nothing involving Future Kululu or him altering the characters' lives was planned any earlier than after the release of Episode 9. Thorn made it all up as he went along. Up until that point, he and Yoshi only intended to use Episode 10 as a means to tie numerous, disparate elements of the first season together and to make discoveries about Tamama and Dororo.

The one exception is the significance of the numerals 4 and 9. The team were planning since Episode 7 to have them be significant in the season finale due to the realization that the numbers kept popping up unintentionally, but the extent to which they were important was not decided until scriptwriting Episode 10. The original idea (as suggested by a fan in the podcast chat) included having the 9's represent Kululu's laugh, but to have it all be an advertisement for "Kuku Puffs", which would be both a parody of Coco Puffs and a reference to the film A Christmas Story.

The end of the credits lists every significant minor character from the first season, as well as everyone who ever voiced in the first season; this also includes former team members DFatman and GhostTC. It however excludes everyone in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Abridged and Best Wishes Abridged which Yoshi believed should stand on their own legs.